This invention relates in general to stringed musical instruments and deals more particularly with an improved top or sounding board assembly for such an instrument. The present invention is particularly concerned with an improved top for an acoustic guitar, that is, a guitar which has a hollow body and is not normally provided with electrical pickup means. In a high quality guitar of the aforedescribed general type wood is frequently used as a sounding board material. Reinforcement must generally be provided to compensate for string tension, and adds considerably to the cost of manufacturing such an instrument. Since the physical characteristics of wood vary it is difficult to manufacture instruments which have uniform sound producing qualities. The stiffness of a wood sounding board may vary with changes in humidity, for example. Further, wood sounding boards are subject to sinking, or transverse inward bowing, creep, or the development of ripples under conditions of high humidity, and deformation from string tension. The tendency of wood to crack under hot, dry conditions introduces further problems.
Accordingly, it is the general aim of the present invention to provide an improved guitar top or sounding board assembly for low cost manufacture which may be produced with a high degree of uniformity of physical characteristics to enable repeatability for uniform sound production. It is a further aim of the invention to provide an improved guitar top which is highly resistive to temperature change and which has a high stiffness to weight ratio for improved tonal quality.